


Raise Another Round

by Vagrant_Blvrd



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29142279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd
Summary: Some people court their loved ones with flowers. Din does this.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 430





	Raise Another Round

Luke is having a very serious discussion with Grogu on what is and is not up for grabs to a very small, very mischievous Jedi in training when Din interrupts.

There’s a soft chime from the doors that pull Luke and Grogu’s attention towards them in the moment before Din strides through them.

He looks...angry? Annoyed? 

Helmet turned to take the two of them in before he goes to the table between them and sets an odd device down. Firmly. When he activates with with a flick of his thumb Luke finds himself staring at his own face.

It’s an old image of a fresh-faced Luke Skywalker in his flight-suit, and blissfully unaware of the trials and tribulations ahead of him. 

It feels like a lifetime ago, more perhaps.

“Oh,” Luke says, as Grogu looks between Luke and the holo image trying reconcile the differences in his mind. Luke for his part is surprised it’s taken Din this long to come across something like this. “Where - “

Din’s tilts his head, just so, and Luke wisely closes his mouth.

He’s learned where to look to meet Din’s eyes through the helmet, and there’s a long uncomfortable moment of eye contact between them before Din straightens and turns to leave. Long strides filled with purpose that Luke doesn’t bother to guess at.

Once the door closes behind him, Luke’s attention goes back to slowly rotating holo of him.

“It’s not even a good image of me,” he says, corner of his mouth twitching up into a smile as Grogu laughs, little hands reaching for the bounty puck.

========

A month later Din scatters a handful of bounty pucks on Luke’s desk, hands resting on the dark wood as he leans forward, head tilted just so once again.

Tension in his shoulders, and Luke sighs as he sits back to eye the little pile before him.

It’s not news, this. His very existence is enough to bring enemies he’s never met forward, ones with grudges that go back generations, and that’s before getting into things he’s directly responsible for.

Idle curiosity has Luke activating a few, and he huffs out a laugh at the array of images that greet him, can recall the...instances that gave rise to the bounty being placed on his head for each one with crystal clarity.

Han had a hand in more than one, although Leia took part in her fair share. Bad influences the two of them, really. He wasn’t always like this.

“Did I ever tell you about the time - “ Luke begins, because it really is a very funny story, only to stop short at the low growl from Din.

Luke bites back a smile, sensing it wouldn’t be appreciated at the moment and meets Din’s glare unflinching.

Moments pass, and Din sighs.

“How was your trip?” Luke asks when he judges it safe enough. Bright and cheery and he almost, almost, laughs when Din’s shoulders droop, defeated.

“...Fine,” he says after a long silence, settling in the chair across from Luke.

He looks tired, doesn’t bother hiding it anymore when it’s just the two of them, hard-won victory.

========

“I can explain,” Luke says, not really sure he can. Not in any way Din will care for, at any rate. “Really.”

A large portion of the room is on fire and there are several individuals deeply invested in making the two of them very, very dead.

Din is glaring at him, and his cape is smoking slightly.

“Really.”

Din’s not supposed to be here, is the thing. He’s meant to be watching Luke’s students so Luke can do...well, not this exactly, but things just happen sometimes.

Luke ducks back as blaster fire comes too close for comfort, bumping up against Din in the process.

“Well,” he hedges, and Han is the worst influence, he really is. “Kind of.”

Din continues glaring at him, and the group of angry individuals continues shooting at them, and really, really, Luke can explain.

Probably.

Thankfully Din decides he’s had enough of being shot at for one day and quickly – efficiently, ruthlessly – puts an end to things.

========

Barely two weeks later and Din tosses a now familiar object at Luke. Waits as Luke turns it on, and stares at Luke who is trying not to smile.

“They got my good side this time,” he says, impressed in spite of himself at the amount of zeroes for his latest bounty.

Din is scowling at him again, evident in the angle of his head, the displeased slant of his shoulders.

“You’re impossible,” he says at last, some measure of fondness to it before he goes to pick Grogu up from class.

Luke smiles, and sets the bounty puck on the shelf with the others.

========

“You know,” Leia says, “flowers are traditional.”

Not true. 

Luke could name at least a dozen cultures alone that don’t off the top of his head. No doubt Leia could name twice that many, if not more.

Leia rolls her eyes, smile tucked in to the corner of her mouth as she runs her fingers over the row of bounty pucks, blue light washing over her face as Luke’s face pops up over and over again.

“Creepy,” she says, and Luke isn’t sure if she’s referring to Luke’s face - _rude_ \- or the fact Din keeps gifting him with reminders of the enemies he’s inherited or made over the years and how much they’re willing to pay to see him dead.

“Well, you know,” he says by way of answer, and shrugs.

========

“Idiot,” Din says, voice low as he hauls Luke down cold corridors flanked by armed guards and into a grand courtyard littered with debris after Luke’s earlier entrance.

Another planet, another local warlord, and Luke just happening by on his way to investigate Jedi ruins on a nearby moon.

Luke stumbles over a pile of rocks, crumbled masonry, and Din’s hold tightens, keeps Luke on his feet.

He keeps his head down, shoulders bowed, as the fearsome Mandalorian bounty hunter guides him to his ship and a bounty waiting to be claimed. 

Sheer luck Din had been tracking a bounty here, been in the right place to step in claiming Luke as one of his bounties and a tracking fob to prove it.

“You’re lucky they don’t know who you are,” Din hisses as they clear the city walls, gates grinding closed behind them.

_Yet_ , Luke thinks, remembering the fear he’d seen in the eyes of the people huddling in shadowed doorways watching them pass. The iron grip the warlord has on them that cannot be allowed to continue.

Din huffs as though he can hear the thought, and pushes Luke up the ramp to his ship, but he doesn’t argue against it. Luke knows he won’t be alone when returns.

========

“You two deserve each other,” Han says, watching as Leia introduces their son to Grogu, Din looking on.

Han’s not thrilled with it, this odd little thing between Luke and Din, overprotective and hating it whenever someone so much as hints that he is because he has a reputation to maintain.

Han’s used to Luke and the way things just happen around him, simple trips, errands that turn into bigger, far more complex situations in the blink of an eye. Finding out that Din’s life follows a similar pattern -

Well.

Luke hums, smiling as Din hovers nervously.

“You really think so?”

========

He hears about it from Wedge of all people, stories about a Mandalorian who’d taken down a local warlord in the company of - 

Well, Jedi were extinct, but there were rumors of a laser sword involved, or so Wedge said, smirk in his voice and knowing look on his face and Luke had shrugged because he had no idea what he was getting at.

It’s easy enough in the end. A gentle suggestion and a friendly smile and Luke relieves a bounty hunter of a task he really wasn’t that enthusiastic about.

Luke waits until he’s in his X-wing’s cockpit, Artoo trilling behind him as he plots a course home, to activate it. Smiles a little stupidly when a familiar face – helmet – appears.

========

“You’re an idiot,” Din says, flat, unimpressed.

Din’s bounty puck Luke retrieved sits between them, Grogu staring at it with a little frown on his face.

“You knew that already,” Luke points out.

Din grunts, like yes, yes he did, actually, and for whatever reason he’s still here.

Quite the mystery, really.

Might never be solved.

Din looks at Luke like he knows what he’s thinking, and sighs as though his life is nothing but hardship and Luke is the latest bit of suffering he’s being made to endure.

“Idiot,” he says again, but there’s that fondness to it, and something else besides that lives in Luke’s own chest, warm and reassuring and enduring.

Luke smiles, grins, and says, “Thanks.”


End file.
